LIGHT FOR HEALING AND HEALTH (4)

“For I am the LORD WHO HEALS you” – Exodus 15:26b

God introduced Himself to Israel by radiating Covenant LIGHT for HEALING and HEALTH: “There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD WHO HEALS you” (Exo.15:25b-26). Moses, Miriam, and the rest of the nation had engaged in High Praises to the Lord after the mighty deliverance through the Red Sea. Then, Moses led the people into the desert for three days without finding water, resulting in a crisis!

After a while, hope arose as they saw some water, only to be disappointed, being bitter, salty water. They named the place “Marah,” meaning “bitterness.” They deepened their problem by grumbling against Moses, who cried out to the Lord, and was shown a tree branch, which he threw into the water, instantly making it potable. Revived, they journeyed to Elim, which had twelve springs and seventy palm trees. The heart of the story of the journey from Marah to Elim – from bitterness and dryness to sweetness and surplus – is: Whatever the bitter barriers we may encounter in life's pathway, we can count on God’s Power and Faithfulness, to transform situations for our good.

God is able to sweeten the bitter burdens of Marah and turn them into a resource for the next leg of our journey. However, beyond the visible display of God’s miraculous power, there was a redemptive process at work. Marah revealed the bitterness in the hearts of the people, evident in their grumbling against Moses. They needed healing from their bitter selves! After sweetening the water with the tree, and making “a statute and an ordinance for them,” the Lord revealed Himself as Jehovah-Rapha: “I am the LORD who HEALS you” – Jehovah-Rapha!

God didn’t say “I am the One who heals the water”! The transformation of the people was more important than of Marah’s water. First, He heals the hearts, and also the body, revitalizing and preserving us for life’s journeys. The tree that sweetened the water was prophetic of Jesus Who hung on Calvary’s tree to purchase our Redemption. As we receive and follow Him, becoming more Christ-centred, we’ll experience healing from inside-out, transiting from the bitterness of Marah to the sweet abundance of Elim; from barrenness to fruitfulness.

The Covenant of Healing is true for Believers of all generations: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes WE ARE HEALED” (Isa.53:5); “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the TREE, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes YOU WERE HEALED” (1 Pet.2: 24-25).